“Opening Day. All you have to do is say the words and you feel the shutters thrown wide, the room air out, the light pour in. In baseball, no other day is so pure with possibility. No scores yet, no losses, no blame or disappointment. No hangover, at least until the game’s over. ~ Mary Schmich, columnist.
The 2024 MLB season begins Wednesday the 20th of March at 5:05am Central Time in Seoul, South Korea for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the San Diego Padres. They play again on Thursday, then fly back to the states to finish their spring training (don’t get me started on this ridiculousness). The “other” Opening Day” will occur on Thursday, the 28th of March. So, I figured I’d better get my predictions in now.
It is traditional for sports writers and bloggers to make predictions on teams; so, who am I to break a tradition? Here are my picks:
American League East:
Toronto Blue Jays
New York Yankees * Wild Card
Baltimore Orioles (They will be very competitive this season)
Tampa Bay Rays
Boston Red Sox
American League Central:
Cleveland Guardians
Minnesota Twins * Wild Card
Detroit Tigers
Chicago White Sox (Sadly)
Kansas City Royals
American League West:
Texas Rangers
Houston Astros * Wild Card
Seattle Mariners
Oakland Athletics
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
American League Champs: Toronto Blue Jays
National League East:
Atlanta Braves
Philadelphia Phillies * Wild Card
New York Mets
Washington Nationals
Miami Marlins
National League Central:
Saint Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers * Wild Card
Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs
Pittsburgh Pirates
National League West:
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres * Wild Card
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
National League Champs: Los Angeles Dodgers
World Series Champs: Los Angeles Dodgers (In seven games)
My other predictions:
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred will again find ways to take the joy of our game and screw it up. He and the owners just don’t get it. His “retirement” can’t happen soon enough.
Shohei Ohtani will have an outstanding season with the Dodgers, and he will enjoy playing even more.
90-year-old Bob Uecker will enter his 53rd year of broadcasting Milwaukee Brewer games on the radio, 620am WTMJ. He will still delight fans with his game calling and wry sense of humour. (I still listen to him whenever I can).
I feel arm injuries for pitchers will be up unfortunately.
The Chicago White Sox games will be more pleasant to watch on tv with their new broadcast team of Steve Stone and newcomer, John Schriffen.
We will hear people call for robotic umpires all season long whenever there is a questionable call. It will get old quickly. For the record I am adamantly AGAINST that. Leave the human element in, no matter how bad Angel Hernandez, C.B. Bucknor, or any others might get.
I also predict sunny days and pleasant nights of pure joy. Baseball will once again warm our hearts, fill the spring, summer, and early fall with excitement, and, perhaps some disappointments along the way as well. Baseball will conjure up memories of seasons past and add new moments to our personal index. Baseball will be families at the park, missing deceased family members that shared and loved the game, daily box scores and always the promise of tomorrow. Baseball will fill our days and nights with amazing plays, special moments, treat us to things we’ve never seen before and as always enrich our lives with the promise of it all happening again the next day.
I’ll be tuned in at 5am.
~ Coach Mike
Please feel free to share this post and site with your family, friends and 50 complete strangers if you like.
Link to: Achieves Page
Link to: About Page
Follow on Twitter: @CommentsFromCo9
Your writing about baseball sounds so magical and delightful ⚾️ Love your predictions and pray that the Go Go White Sox will surprise🙏🙏🙏 Look forward to your next post😎
Thanks for your predictions! It's good to get back to the Baseball season once again. Hope the Sox do better than your prediction, but it does look sad for them again!
We can always hope for miracles!